Then Comes Marriage by Emily Goodwin

A clever author and a very clever read.

This is perfect holiday reading material, perfect sit back and switch off and let the beautifully descriptive tones of what the author has to say take you to places that given half the chance you would jump at.

I liked the fact that the author keeps her tone light and her descriptions fluid, because the moral that the book seemed to channel was a strong one and by keeping the vocabulary easy I found it very easy to get absorbed, she is able to almost relax you into a sense of peace and tranquillity and before you know it, you’ve clicked over the last page and are wondering where the day went.

Rachel on the other hand was wondering where her happy ever after went, although seeing as she found her fiancé with another woman she had a fair idea that her rose tinted glasses were seriously malfunctioning. But this is a woman that refuses to allow his d**kstupid mistake to break her spirit, so once she has taken care of all the cancellations, she takes off on the one thing she couldn’t get her money back on…the honeymoon.

Rachael’s attitude was so on point, she was such a tough cookie, she dusted herself off, lifted her head high and with a positive attitude she was determined that she was not going to let his pathetic mistake define her, she was worth more…good girl!

A few weeks on the beach sounds like just the thing to kick start her reboot, her new life. A chance to get the man not only finally out of her hair but completely out of her life and to start afresh but she hadn’t banked on bumping into someone she knew while she was there and she definitely had thought that her wedding fiasco might just have a silver lining.

Derek was married to the force so to speak, a homicide detective whose life had been through more than enough heartache and who buried himself in his work to block out the pain of a private life that hurt more than he wanted to think about. Lies and deceit had eroded his soul and he had had enough, he was committed to his job, nothing else and he seemed to like it that way.Now, just because he spent almost every waking hour focussing on his career did not mean that Derek was a downer, far from it, I found him fascinating. There was so much going on under the surface with him that it was like peeling back the layers, pleading with him to just let me in a little more, to let me see the real man.

So can two souls, on a quest for calm find comfort with each other?

Would they be a help or a hindrance to their individual plans?

But I couldn’t help but wonder what were the chances that they would both end up at the same resort at the same time?

The story raised questions but it also was very careful to answer them too. It encourages strength and showed that nothing is too much to overcome, we are all masters of our own fate. Others can only affect who we are if we let them and being treated badly by those that we love should act as a reminder that bad choices come in many shapes and sizes and that sometimes, a little pain can help prevent a lifetime of sorrow.

I was delighted that Derek and Rachael saw their own worth, they were positive role models, they took control of the events that others inflicted on them and did everything they could to make it better, not only on their own but also together.